I’m a firm believer that you can make a great game even if it is based around a kid’s TV show. In my head I envisage the best platformer/action game you’ve never experienced based on Thundercats (the proper one not the new-fangled anime style one). It’d have great character development, the large open world of Third Earth, RPG elements and you could even drive the Thundertank. Yet whilst these are clearly the whimsical dreams of a sad reviewer, the reason for their inclusion is because Ben 10: Omniverse sadly does what every other kids TV show game does: It sits nicely in the box labelled ‘Kid’s TV Show-based game’ and thus, by extension, it should also be transferable to the box labelled ‘mediocre’.

And that annoys me.

Not least because I view this particular premise as a good a basis as any to create a decent game. You play Ben Tennyson, a kid who by using his famous watch-style Omnitrix, can transform into various alien creatures to help defeat the evil Malware. You travel through the 3D levels, fighting groups of enemies as you go, being able to progress once each group of monsters is defeated. You are also accompanied by a new sidekick called Rook which allows for 2-player co-op during the adventure. All this sounds like a very good start. It could so easily have been a game that combines the best bits of Streets of Rage, Lost Kingdoms 2 with RPG elements to create a pretty good game. Sadly its missing a fair bit of spark and creativity which becomes apparent when you start playing.